BOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  December  24. 1864.- Refer- 
red  to  Special  Committee  on  Impressment?,  ami  ordered  to  be  printed. 

|  l'y  Mr.  Chilton. 


JOINT  RESOLUTIONS 

Of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Alabama,  in  relation  to 
impressments  and  the  schedule  of  prices  fixed  by  Con- 
federate Commissioners. 

Section  1.  Be  it  resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  State  of  Alabama,  in  (General  Assembly  convened.  That 
the  right  of  the  Confederate  Government  to  impress  the  private 
property  of  its  citizens  for  the  public  use.  is  conceded  ;  and  when 
the  public  service  requires  it,  but  only  in  such  cases,  that  right 
should  be  exercised,  and  always,  as  the  Constitution  requires,  with 
just  compensation  to  the  owner  of  said  property. 

Section  2.  Be  itjurther  Resolved,  That  the  good  faith  of  the 
government,  as  well  as  good  policy,  requires  that  the  citizens  should 
receive  the  compensation  awarded  them  for  impressed  property  at 
the  time  it  is  taken;  and  that  the  policy  which  has  heretofore  been 
adopted,  of  paying  for  impressed  property  in  mere  certificates  of 
impressment,  which  cannot  be  used,  either  in  the  payment  of  public 
dues  or  private  debts,  is,  alike,  violation  of  the  rights  of  the  citizen 
and  the  constitutional  obligations  of  the  government. 

Section  3.  Be  it  further  Resolved,  That  the  recent  schedule  of 
prices  fixed  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  several  States  is  arbitrary, 
unequal  and  unjust,  and  should  be  immediately  revised,  filing  the 
rates  of  compensation  upon  the  basis  of  a  fair  market  valuation  for 
impressed  property  in  the  neighborhood  where  it  is  impressed. 

Section  4.  B( it  further  Resolved,  That  all  cer'ificates  of  in- 
debtedness issued  by  the  Government,  in  payment  for  property 
taken  for  public  use,  should  be  receivable  in  payment  of  public 
dues. 

otioh  •r).    Be  it  further  Resolved,  Thar,  his  Excellency, 
ernor,  be,  and    he  is    hereby,  requested   to  forward  a  copy  of 
these  resolutions  to  each  one  of  our  Senators  and  Representatives 
in  Congress. 

Approved  November  29th,  r 

CRITABT  of  Stat  j 

Montgomery.  Ala.,  Dee  L  S 

I  hereby  certify  that  the  foregoing  ifl  a  true  copy  from  the  or' 
nal  rolls  on  file  in  my  otfice. 

P.   H.   KRITI  •• 

-  ate. 


F&R. 


